BLACKMAIL CHARGE.

Taihape Daily Times, Volume XI, Issue 3479, 6 May 1920, Page 6

BLACKMAIL CHARGE.

THE WINDER CASE‘

FURTHER EVIDENCE FOR

PROSECUTION.’

ACCUSED COMMITTED FOR

TRIAL.

Further evidence relating to the ‘blackmailing charge against George Herbert \\'indel' was heard at \Veliington on Fl‘id'd_V ‘by Mr E. Page, S.M. Winder was arraigned upon an information alleging that, with intent to extort a sum of money from one Clifford Peel, be accused Peel with a crime punishable with imprisonment for five years or more. Chief-Detective Ward conducted the prosecution. Mr G. 'Wa'tson represented the accused, and Mr D. Jackson watched the proceedings on behalf of accused ‘s father. Edna May Dixon, the typiste, who on Wednesday gave evidence against the accused, was subjected to crossexamination by Mr Watson. Replying to Mr \Vatson’s questions, ,the witness agreed that it was imp! proper of her to go to the pictures‘ with a chance acquaintance, and that she knew at the time that such was’ the‘ case. In some of her earlier con-V versations with Winder she had told him that she wzissomewhat suspicious of both O’Neill and Peel, and that she thought Peel might not want her to go back at night‘ for work alone. At that time she looked upon Winder as a I protector, and on one occasion when}

she was working back at night she‘ asked him to _visit the office t.o_ see if "’ she was all right. Subsequently she! was satisfied that the conduct of both o’Neill ‘and’ Peel was qui_€e proper, and I ‘realising as 9. result of conver'sat.ionl with accused What sort of a man he‘ Was, she ‘told him everything‘. '

From that time onward she had acted under instructions from the latter. The letter" she gave to Winder in'Willis Street was written at'Pecl?s» dictation, in order to trap ,a letter from accused. As she did not receive a reply, she telephoned accused at his place of buisncss. Mr Watson: As a matter of fact, when accused did not take your bait _(the letter) did you not. look for him? —Yes, we wanted to catch him. ' You were acting under insfructions from Peel’?-“Yes.”

Did you not look for Winder on Friday afternoon, the date of the alleged offence —“I met him in Manners Stre°.t.”

- Did you ever tell Winder that Peel. had taken you Home in his motor car, and that he had made it “pretty hot” for you?—“Yes.” Did h_e make it “hot.” for you?No; I did not go with him.” Then your statement to accused was a lie‘Z——“Yes.” -

‘ Framed by Clifibrd _l’eolZ—“No, by myself.”

The witness adrnitted further that during the scene at the office on Fri~ day night, Winder referred to ‘her when she and Peel were discussing the amount that. should be paid, and said he wanted the cheque made out in her name. It waslupon he-'l' suggesti'on that the light in the oflice was '_t~Lll"ll€Li. ofi at the time_at which Winder was to enter. Her idea was to make the scene more realistic. I COMPLAINANT IN THE BOX. i Clifford Peel, indent a"gent—with‘ offices in l3‘letcher’s buildings, Willis Stl'eet—said that the witness, Miss Dixon, was in his. employ as a shorthand typiste. ‘On the morning of April 25, in Consequence of something she told him, he dictated a letter to her. The letter was enclosed in an envelope and was for Winder. Later in the day Miss Dixon pointed out the accused in the street, stating, “He is the man.” Witness then left Miss ‘Dixon, who stayed and spoke to accused. Witness saw Miss Dixon hand a letter‘ to the accused, who remained in her company for about two minutes. A little later witness telephoned Detective Carney, and made 3.1-rarigeiiients for the following day.

At 7.45 p.m. on the next day (Friday) Detectives Carney and Black Went; to witness’ ofiiee. Miss Dixon was also there. The two detectives were in,.the outer office, and Miss. Dix-i on was in the private office. Miss Dixon screamed, witness having previously switched ofl' the light. Accused bounded into the office,’ and sziid:

“This is :1 niccstate of afl.'uirs.”l Witness replied, “What do youi I mean?” Accused said he had come to rescue the girl from such a_black-i guard as witness, and that he had had} his suspicions of witness for some time. Accused added that witness was an utter blackguard, -and that such men as he should be__put out of the country. Witness asked: “What arcyou going to do?” and the r_eply'was:' “Iam going to ring, up the police.” Ac? cused threatened that if ‘witness did not compensate the girl immediately he would ring up the police. He would give witness until 3.39 ofclock to do; ‘sl39 Whether he ‘would compensate the’; gil'l'ol' go to igaol, “the place {vhere fie should have ben long ago.” Wit-

mess offered :Iccu:~ted £lO in -settlement, but the latter refused to accept less than. £IOO. Witness said: “Oh, you want the money?” Accused replied in the negative, adding that he would merely receive the money on the girl ’s behalf. Witness ofl'er'ed £SO; which the accused, after consulting the girl

(who made no reply) agreed to accept.

Witness then got. his cheque-book out, and the accused asked for notes. Those not being forthcoming, he agreed to accept a. cheque, which he gave :_ls his own. Witness had just prior to this refused to accede to the ac-cused’s request to make the cheque out in the girl is name. After handing

j’l.im the cheque, witness said to accused: “I will give you two seconds to get out? of the office.” Accused said he would take the girl, to which witness refused to "agree. Witness then threatened to throw the accused out of the office, whereupon blows were exchanged. The detectives then appeared on the scene. ' WITNESS CROSS-EXAMI'I\*ED. Cross-examined by Mr Watsoll, witness said he remembered being warned by the Magisfrate not to communicate with any witness or any party to the case.

Counsel: Is it not a fact that immediately after this morning you and Miss Dixon left the ‘Court together and went up town together<?——Witness: “Yes.”

Also with a young man called Twist ‘.3-—“Yes.’ ’

V Twist is a clerk in your office?—— (&y'eS‘|U ‘

To bring you_ knowledge, Twist sat in the court throughout the whole proceedings ?——“Yes. ”

Then it. was with your approval that he stayed away fl-oln'wol'k all that day to come to this court_?— “Yes.” .

You discussed the case with him? ——“Yes.’:’ ,Witness added in response to further questions that he did not see Miss Dixon at all on Thursday last. On the previous night he was in her company 20 'minutes. from the time they left the court. He had endeavoured also to approach Mr O'Neill in connection with the case. He had read in the paper that O’Neill’s name had been mentioned in connection with the case. Witness had asked the Evening Post reporter to do him the favour of keeping O’Neill:’§ name out, of the paper, as O’Neill was not connected with the case. He denied having endeavoured to communicate with a member of the detective force. Witness gaid t_ha.t the first occasion on which Miss Dixon spoke to him about Winder was the Wednesday morning. Miss Dixon‘ worked late on Tuesday night at ‘O’Neill’s office in order to type an urgent document for witness and O’Neill so that it might catch the mail closing on the Friday. The document had not yet been completed ’

Witness‘ admitted hztving asked Miss Dixon to “try om” a fur coat, but only as a matter of business. She was not the only one. At. the time he tried the fur coat on Miss Dixon there were also present another lady clerk and witness’s step-daughter. The letter that Miss Dixon handed to Winder was entirelyof Wit.neS:s’S OWn concfottion, and he framed it. in a. way that he thought was most likely to make the man fall into the trap. The ‘girl t.ol'c'l him-the man’s name was George Winder. Witness asked her whether she meant George Winder, 10f Winder-" 5 Buildings, and she replied 'in the affirmative. Witness told her |that it must be some l3lacl<gu:ml_\vllo was using Afr Winder ’s name for his own ends. On the same day he followed the m'an to ‘Winder-;‘s Building. At one time he thought of informing

{Mr Wiudel-,_ senior, of the matter, but ‘he refrained frorfi "doing so as he had [no proof to offer. From Wedn'e.s'da)' {onwards the whole object. was to trap ,the man, and Miss Dixon acted in the "matter entirely under his }Peel’?3) direction. Lute on the Thursday afternoon the asked Miss Dixon whether

she had received any response ‘to the lettexj handed to Winder. The girl replied that sheehad not, and witness told her‘ to ring up George Winder in order to find out if he was the man, but could not get. in touch with him. He told the girl to do her best to get hold of the man in time for Friday ‘night. He was determined to ‘lead the man (or Winder) into the Friday night business.”

“SCREAM AT THE APPOINTED HOUR.”

Miss Dixon was told to inform Winder that she would be Working that night at the ofiice. Witness Dixon arrived a few minutes later, the detectives and Twist (the clerk) having arrived earlier, During the evening witness told the girl to carry out her part to the letter, and to scream at the appointed hour. Witness believed that the accused was armed when he came to the office, but no arms were found on him. ’

I In reply to further questions from ‘Mr Watson, I_3eel exclaimed: “Youl ca‘n’t bamoboo-zle me, my friend.” I Counsel: ‘I am not your friend and don"t want to Ibe, and I must ask you Tnot to be familiar. i V Witriess stated that after Winder had burst into the room the girl re‘tired to a. corner and commenced to‘ cry. Witness did not know whether I the tears were genuine or not. Wit- :1 ness asked accused if he did not think it best to fix it up, and went on to suggest a “fiver” or a “tenner.” Apart from one occasion, all the negotiations appeared to be on behalf of the girl. When witness told accused to get out of the oflice, -he knew the detectives were waiting outside the door to arrest Winder. When Winder said that he would take the girl, witness knocked him about eight feet across the room He ~denied striking the accused after the latter had been handcuffed Mr Watsonat this stage drew His Worship’s attention to the fact that despite a warning Peel had communicated with witnesses.

In reply to the Magistrate, Peel -stated that after consulting with a. detective on the point. he saw Miss Dixon after the previous sitting of the Court and told her to take a holiday until the Court proceedings were over A DETECTIVE’S EWDENCE. Detective Martin Carney, of the Wrel-liugton Police Force, deposed that on the evening of April 23. in consequence of information received, Detective Black and he went to Peel ’s office shortly after seven. About 7.41) o’clock, Peel and Miss Dixon arriv 911' on the scene. Witness. and De'tective‘ Black were in the outer offiee. 3 'Ah_out‘ 8.45 he heard Miss Dixon call ‘out. “Help!” and saw the accused rush inside the office. After this, witness moved from his position‘ in the outer oflice to just outside the door of the inner office where, through the aperture of the door, he could see what was going on. He heard accused say that he had known Miss Dixon for about a month, and he thought quite a lot of her. Accused added: “I suspected that a blackguard like you was going to ruin her here tonight.” 7 A S'I‘ATEiVIENT BY ACCUSED. Winder sat down after‘ he was hand~ suited and asked whether witness wanted to hear his story. Witness told him to wait until he got to the police

stntioii. Ull :u-rival there, accused} mado the following statcnlent:——“About three months ‘ago 1 met. a girl 1]:l1Il(_‘(l. Dixon, and later took herl to the pictures. I did not see herl again till about :1 fortnight ago,‘ when I :11-1-anged to take her to the! pictures on ’l‘uesdn_v last, April 21. I moi; her on '.l‘ucsd-my and went. to the: I’:'.;:iniou:it. L'icLul'cs. Tliutz evening she, told me that she had to go back’ to her employers’ oflice the following niglir, that they were then going to unotllor ofiico, where there would be} another man and another girl. She said that she was friglitenod of the c(msoqllonces. I then oifcl'c<l to go for the purpose of seeing that no harm -came to hex‘. Latex‘ we talked about ‘Do liuxo Anne.’ This was still in the pictures. '_l‘ho next. (lay I met her and took her to ten, and I arranged to visit the building wllcl'o. she would be twice dui-ing the evmxing. We trtllicd :Ll)(J'Ll1 gottixig money out of the men who \\'oro in the ofiitzo. .\'otlling h:1p~ pmiod that night. .1. met her in the street. the noxt (ln_v.';lml she gave m.e 21 note. 1 (ll(,l not botlier any more about the matter. To—«l:l_\f, April 23:}, on lvnviiip; liiisiness, I mot her eoniing to see me. film said she hzul to go. back to-night. that tlmrc \\':is no work to do, and that slur \\'a.\‘ sure that Mr ‘ ].’col wuss goixlg' to try it on to-night: I suial I would be at l’(‘ol‘;< ofiioo :1i :1 ‘ quautor past oiglit, and sho v.':xx_< to‘ ,sc1'0:1n1 if ixnytliing lmpp'.‘ll.‘(l. I tfillxl

tihat if lf’ee_l was :1 bad egg‘ ~.\':‘ nlig.§llt as well get sonlething (ml )1’ him. I .~.lxg;g'v.<ted about £SOO. I kept Che uppohmnent at about :1 qual+.~‘:l' past eight‘, zmd lxe-.1111 the .~'cl'e:lln. I I'-1«:':1::d in. .-\ft'el' I had got :1 cheque for £SO .fl'onl Peel I wanted the girl to come away, but Mr Peel tried to prevent my‘ doing so by force, and it was while I was tl'yixl~g to get him out of the way that the police czune in. I struggled because I thought they were friends of Peel. This is all I have to say.” This concluded the evidence offered by the police. A PLEA FOR DISCHARGE.

On behalf of the accused, Mr Watson submitted that no prima facie case had been made out. There was -no evident-,e to show that there had been any intent to extort gain. If any intent \\'2l.< int'errecl from the evidence. it \\'n.< an attempt to make Peel pay for the wrong done to the girl. Another submission was that there was no evidence of Winders having“ aecused Peel of a crime. There was nothing to indicate that any crime had been mentioned. If Winder rang the Qpolice, it was to be inferred merely that he was willing to put the whole matter in their hands for investigation. The M'agistr:lte decided that the ease should go bet'ore 21 jury, and ac(if())‘(l]ill_£{l}' vonnnited accused for trial. Bail \v:‘xs allowed in the sum of £2OO and two sureties each. of :1 like amount.

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